This suit weighs about 66 lbs.
Descending the room in the first enclosure is the armour (IX) of the
Earl of Worcester, who died 1589. This suit is very massive, the breast
and back plates together weighing 40 lbs. 3 oz. In the same enclosure
are two figures made up of Maximilian armour, and a bowman and a
musketeer of the Earl of Worcester's time. In the archways will be seen
early forms of guns and pistols of various types and swords and other
weapons.
The next mounted figure (VIII) (formerly called Sir Henry Lee) is of the
middle of the sixteenth century, and the two foot figures are made up of
early sixteenth-century armour.
At the side is a cuir bouilli crupper as worn by the English heavy
cavalry in the sixteenth century.
The next enclosure contains an equestrian figure (X) of Robert Dudley
Earl of Leicester, the favourite of Elizabeth. This fine suit bears all
over it the badge of the Ragged Staff, and is engraved with the badges
and collars of the Garter and of the Order of St. Michael of France. The
suit was made between 1566 and 1588, and is of very great interest as
one of the very few known which also possesses the extra pieces for the
tilt yard, viz.: the Grandguard and the Passguard, ornamented like the
suit, which with them weighs about 83-1/2 lbs. It will be seen that the
extra pieces are for the left side, and the helmet has no air holes on
that side, as the tilters passed left arm to left arm on either side of
the tilt or barrier.
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